Baseball: Mission League begins play with three-game series

It’s ready or not time for baseball teams in the Mission League. The coaches voted to play three-game series each week to test their pitching staffs, and it starts on Tuesday.

The schedule: Harvard-Westlake at Chaminade, Alemany at Loyola, Crespi vs. St. Francis. Sherman Oaks Notre Dame is off this week from playing league games and will have a doubleheader against Village Christian on Wednesday. The same teams play Wednesday and Friday.

St. Francis has an interim coach after dismissing Terry Phillips one game into the season. Chaminade has played just one game because it had to cancel a pre-league tournament to compete in the National High School Invitational in North Carolina next week. Alemany has been waiting for standout freshman shortstop Caden Miller to become healthy after a back injury. He’s not expected back until April.

Notre Dame (5-0) and Harvard-Westlake (4-1) are probably the co-favorites but nobody really knows whose pitching staff will be consistent enough to perform well in three-game series.

“We’re going to find out what we’re in for,” Alemany Coach Randy Thompson said.

Notre Dame is already planning a twist. Most teams will be using their aces in the first game of the week, but the Knights are planning to use standout Hunter Greene on Fridays. They need him to play shortstop on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

The winner of the Harvard-Westlake-Chaminade series should emerge as the early team to beat, especially if a sweep occurs.

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